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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26423587">Degraded</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter'>TFALokiwriter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lost in Space (TV 1965)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Sad with a Happy Ending, poetic prose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:55:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,099</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26423587</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Jupiter 2, the Robinsons, Robot,  and Smith, face degrades.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Degraded</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have had this general idea for months now. I was taking a shower today and the pieces of the idea become poetry literally writing itself in my head so I had to start writing this immediately.  And edit.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the beginning,</p><p>the Jupiter 2 has all the equipment she needs,</p><p>and The Robinsons have all that they need on a inhospitable world as their lives are spinning.</p><p> </p><p>Year by year,</p><p>the Jupiter 2 loses precious equipment,</p><p>they're still there,</p><p>It starts rather small;</p><p>The original rations are eaten by Doctor Smith,</p><p>and they don't have a mall.</p><p> </p><p>Watering equipment is thrown out,</p><p>After a episode featuring beings capable of using electronics,</p><p>What they need is their logics,</p><p>And their own hands.</p><p> </p><p>The Freezing Tubes are removed;</p><p>Maureen winces every time she looks at them,</p><p>a reminder of what they cannot be improved,</p><p>knowing they are condemned.</p><p> </p><p>The Jupiter 2,</p><p>the Robinsons,</p><p>Robot,</p><p>and Smith;</p><p>face further degrades.</p><p> </p><p>Smith's character degrades by each passing year,</p><p>John rationalizes that any day Smith could be raptured;</p><p>his mind taken by space,</p><p>his body operating,</p><p>following a delusion.</p><p> </p><p>It's solemn.</p><p> </p><p>Smith degrades before their very eyes.</p><p> </p><p>John meets his first grandchild;</p><p>Joshua Robinson West.</p><p>It's the happiest day of their lives.</p><p> </p><p>A decade later,</p><p>Penny meets the love of her life,</p><p>a traveler -- infiltrator -- who gets on Smith's nerves,</p><p>and is wedded to them by John,</p><p>Not long after that comes Craig Robinson.</p><p> </p><p>The Robinsons have lost their original weapons,</p><p>but they have good impressions,</p><p>And new weapons as replacements,</p><p>trading laser pistols in for displaced mundane weapons.</p><p> </p><p>The Jupiter 2,</p><p>The Robinsons,</p><p>and Robot,</p><p>face further degrades.</p><p> </p><p>John passes in his sleep twenty-eight years later,</p><p>After their fatal voyage had begun,</p><p>Maureen becomes a shell of herself,</p><p>The Robinsons become weaker.</p><p> </p><p>Don resents Smith.</p><p> </p><p>Don is furious for what Smith has made them become.</p><p> </p><p>Barbarians.</p><p> </p><p>Smith hasn't aged a day,</p><p>until the day that he does,</p><p>and Don has a very happy day.</p><p> </p><p>Smith trades the weather equipment. </p><p> </p><p>The Robinsons,</p><p>Robot,</p><p>and Smith,</p><p>face further degrades.</p><p> </p><p>Unknown,</p><p>uncertain,</p><p>scared about the weather of tomorrow.</p><p> </p><p>Horrifically twisted by fear, the Robinsons are, and it's all his fault. </p><p> </p><p>Smith exiles himself for his mistake,</p><p>the exile lasts two months,</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <em>sulking.</em> </span>
</p><p> </p><p>Joshua, Craig, teenagers,</p><p> (<i>Craig is ten, he insists he is a teenager, </i></p><p>
  <i> Ready to face whatever that threatens his home as danger, </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Joshua is twenty-five and denies that he is getting old, </i>
</p><p><i>like his bold father,</i>)</p><p>join Don watch over the Jupiter 2,</p><p>All the while the women, Robot, Will, and Smith scavenge for food.</p><p> </p><p>The Jupiter 2 becomes a cave to them,</p><p>their engines lost critical parts,</p><p>because Smith traded them for food,</p><p>Smith is exiled.</p><p> </p><p>The Robinsons are trapped on a planet for a undetermined length of time.</p><p> </p><p>Debbie goes out with Judy and Craig one day,</p><p>Debbie doesn't come back to Penny's dismay,</p><p>A rift grows between the sisters,</p><p>blame, guilt, and anger that leaves their relationship bitter.</p><p> </p><p>The Robinsons,</p><p>Robot,</p><p>and Smith,</p><p>face further degrades.</p><p> </p><p>Seven years after John's demise, </p><p>the clothing synthesizer breaks,</p><p>Judy informs Smith about the problem once Smith's only more recent clothing</p><p>(gifted to him by Will)</p><p>has shown wear and tear,</p><p>the heartbreak breaks Judy's heart.</p><p> </p><p>It's two weeks after,</p><p>that the Robinsons meet kind strangers and repair the clothing synthesizer,</p><p>Judy searches for him with Will and Robot,</p><p>Smith is no where to be found (and so is his belongings, his campsite empty, his fire pit all but stained)</p><p>after thirty-four years being lost;</p><p>it feels odd that he isn't there.</p><p> </p><p>The Jupiter 2 is messy,</p><p>Full of wiring, old equipment, and small made fire pits,</p><p>stained by age, wear, and tear,</p><p>it's dark but the soft yellow glow brings warmth.</p><p> </p><p>The Robinsons,</p><p>Robot,</p><p>face further degrades.</p><p> </p><p>Robot is destroyed protecting the Robinsons,</p><p>Forty-two years after trying to destroy them,</p><p>Will rescues his sensor disk,</p><p>Robot is unable to be fully repaired,</p><p>and his parts rest in cargo.</p><p> </p><p>It's close to sixty years,</p><p>that a rescue ship comes after them,</p><p>the Robinsons weep,</p><p>And find out that</p><p>A individual with the code name Faganne, (the officers were not sure, it <em>sounded</em> like Faganne)</p><p>sent coordinates for their destination to Alpha Centauri Headquarters.</p><p> </p><p>The Robinsons celebrate,</p><p>the rescue team helps the Robinsons repair the Jupiter 2 back to her glory,</p><p>That takes weeks,</p><p>But at the end, the Jupiter 2 looks just like she did before.</p><p> </p><p>Homely, hopeful, optimistic,</p><p>state of the art,</p><p>and every bit of its retro theme was back again,</p><p>The Jupiter 2's interior was back in her natural state of being.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Penny is excited to be on Earth in the future,</p><p>as is her partner,</p><p>her excitement fades once told Earth is in the dark ages.</p><p> </p><p>And then it makes sense to Don,</p><p>why it took so long,</p><p>Civilization had fallen apart,</p><p>and spaceflight discussions were a non-discuss sable</p><p>or impossible feat.</p><p> </p><p>Don and Judy cry,</p><p>Penny digs out the vase with Debbie's tiny turned to ash bones,</p><p>And turns them into gemstones.</p><p> </p><p>She gathers left over gold,</p><p>fancies them directly into fancy jewellery that are old,</p><p>then gifts it to Judy,</p><p>Judy and Penny see eye to eye.</p><p> </p><p>Maureen is still a shadow,</p><p>Will asks a favor,</p><p>he makes a holographic program,</p><p>a shadow for a shadow.</p><p> </p><p>Maureen is happy,</p><p>John's hologram aged as she is,</p><p>Maureen is strong,</p><p>John is happy,</p><p>nothing is wrong about that.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Jupiter 2 arrives to Alpha Centauri,</p><p>
  <em>---Sixty years late--</em>
</p><p>To a large crowd.</p><p> </p><p>Robot is put into a new shell,</p><p>belonging to the POPS line,</p><p>white and blue,</p><p>cake dish that replaced his bubble helm,</p><p>his neck gear protected by a protective bubble.</p><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>Robot is cheerful,</p><p>pleased,</p><p>"I cannot be reprogrammed, Link Robinson. Only <em>I</em> can reprogram myself!"</p><p>And he laughs, so thoroughly happy, but so unhappy at once.</p><p>It just didn't feel the same without.  . . Or as triumphant. . .</p><p>But the departures had aided the family to come home and Robot alive.</p><p> </p><p>The Jupiter 2 is a smart home</p><p>the enhancements for Maureen and John,</p><p>degraded but improved,</p><p>a large clan bigger than it was before,</p><p> </p><p>The Robinsons put Earth to the background, </p><p>life is happier,</p><p>Robot still misses his friend.</p><p> </p><p>Will writes a series of novels,</p><p>that range from serious to silly then to gritty;</p><p>with fun, happiness, family scattered throughout each novel,</p><p>adventures of their time being lost.</p><p>The readers feel the absence of his father and his best friends in them.</p><p> </p><p>Their lack of presence are invisible dark voids in the writing.</p><p>Somber and sad,</p><p>but hopeful.</p><p> </p><p>Historical biographic pieces are what they are called,</p><p>Will, finally, finds a love,</p><p>has two lovely children,</p><p>and lives the rest of his days,</p><p>at Alpha Centauri.</p><p> </p><p><em>Found</em> in Space.</p><p>Not Lost in Space.</p><p>Not degraded but enhanced, better, greater.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Added a section to explain Craig and Joshua being teenagers because I felt like it didn't make sense.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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